Daisy Lynum's fellow Orlando city commissioners praised her 16 years of service on Monday at her last regular City Council meeting. "I have been proud to serve alongside you," said Mayor Buddy Dyer. The mayor pointed to accomplishments that include bringing the Florida A&M University law school to Orlando, pushing for the Nap Ford charter school in Parramore and developing a city jobs-and-contracts program in West Orlando. Lynum was first elected in 1998, and re-elected to three more terms.

A late afternoon thunderstorm postponed a march on Orlando City Hall to protest how the police handled a massive memorial block party in Parramore last month. About 1,000 people attended the party that Orlando police shut down after midnight on July 26 with the use of smoke bombs and Orange County deputy sheriffs called in for back-up, according to police and participants. As the crowd dispersed, police said someone fired a gun in the air and ran away without being caught. No one was arrested and there were no injuries, according to police.

Two Orlando commissioners coasted into new four-year terms without an election Friday, when no challengers filed to run against them. The city's candidate qualifying period ended at noon Friday. With no opponents, Robert Stuart and Jim Gray won't even have their names on the April 8 ballot for City Council. This means a third term for Stuart, executive director of the Christian Service Center, who was first elected to represent District 3 in 2006. For Gray it will be his first full term representing District 1. He was first elected in a 2012 special election that was called because former Commissioner Phil Diamond resigned the seat to run for mayor.

Orlando and Orange County this week committed more than $430,000 to help land a major U.S. tennis training center that's expected to create 154 jobs with an average salary of more than $84,000. The incentives are part of an overall package aimed at enticing the U.S. Tennis Association to build what's being called the New Home of American Tennis. It would include more than 100 courts at the Lake Nona development in southeast Orlando. The USTA announced last month that it would build the facility, which would have collegiate tournament courts, dormitories and spectator seating for 1,200.

Orlando voters elected political newcomer Regina Hill to the City Council on Tuesday, rejecting Juan Lynum, the better-funded candidate and son of the district's current commissioner. Hill's victory is the culmination of an unlikely campaign by a felon who told voters she had turned her life around and would turn around the troubled district, too. Hill earned 54.5 percent of the vote to Lynum's 45.5 percent in the runoff election to represent District 5, easily beating the attorney and son of four-term incumbent Commissioner Daisy Lynum.

Voters have a choice between Stella Lewis and Sheldon Watson in Tuesday's runoff for the Orlando City Council District 6 race. The election is nonpartisan.District 6 includes much of southwest Orlando including the neighborhoods of Washington Shores, Carver Shores, Malibu and Richmond Heights. The winner of Tuesday's election will fill the seat being vacated by Mable Butler, who is running for Orange County Commission.Lewis, 50, is a real estate agent. Watson, 41, is a security consultant.

Bob Davis, a certified public accountant, has filed papers to run for Orlando City Council.''People must know there are alternatives to raising property taxes,'' said Davis, 36, president of McDirmit Davis & Co.The non-partisan city councilelection is Sept. 6. So far, Davis is the only candidate to oppose District 2 council member Mary Johnson, who is seeking a third term.Council members serve part time and are paid $11,681 a year. They run in individual districts and are elected to four-year terms.

The Orlando City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a property tax rate of 6.06 mills, or about $6.06 per $1,000 of assessed property value.That means the owner of a $100,000 house with a $25,000 homestead exemption would pay $454.50 in property taxes.It's the eighth consecutive year Orlando has not raised taxes.

An Orange County school employee will challenge Orlando City Council member Nap Ford for his District 5 seat during the Sept. 4 election.Resource teacher Daisy Lynum, 43, formally announced her candidacy Monday during a reception at the Callahan Neighborhood Center. She said her campaign will focus on improving human services and neighborhoods.''We're not running against anybody or anything,'' she said. ''I had planned to run back in 1986, and we didn't because Commissioner Ford had some things he wanted to complete and he indicated that would be his last term.

California-based Antech Diagnostics Inc. has selected Orlando as the home of its new regional veterinary lab for the Southeast U.S. - a move that will create 45 to 50 new jobs, company officials said this week. The veterinary services company, based in Irvine, has picked a site for the Orlando operation and is negotiating a lease agreement, said Josh Drake, president of Antech Diagnostics. The location and timetable were not disclosed. Buoyed by state and local tax-break incentives worth $135,000, Antech chose Orlando over sites in Georgia and Alabama.

Daisy Lynum's fellow Orlando city commissioners praised her 16 years of service on Monday at her last regular City Council meeting. "I have been proud to serve alongside you," said Mayor Buddy Dyer. The mayor pointed to accomplishments that include bringing the Florida A&M University law school to Orlando, pushing for the Nap Ford charter school in Parramore and developing a city jobs-and-contracts program in West Orlando. Lynum was first elected in 1998, and re-elected to three more terms.

Orlando voters elected political newcomer Regina Hill to the City Council on Tuesday, rejecting Juan Lynum, the better-funded candidate and son of the district's current commissioner. Hill's victory is the culmination of an unlikely campaign by a felon who told voters she had turned her life around and would turn around the troubled district, too. Hill earned 54.5 percent of the vote to Lynum's 45.5 percent in the runoff election to represent District 5, easily beating the attorney and son of four-term incumbent Commissioner Daisy Lynum.

Eight months after mold forced the Orlando Ballet from its longtime home, the dance company could be moving to new headquarters in a prime location, Orlando's Loch Haven Park. Leaders of the city and the ballet have struck a deal that will let the dance company rent the Loch Haven Community Center for $1 per year. The 99-year lease is similar to a shorter one the city has with the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, also in the park off Princeton Street near downtown. "It is an amazing location that brings us right into the heart of the city's cultural core," said Ava Doppelt, president of the ballet's board.

A California-based veterinary-services company is considering Orlando as the site of an advanced laboratory hub for the Southeast, company and city officials confirmed last week. Los Angeles-based Antech Diagnostics also is eyeing potential sites in Georgia and Alabama for the project, which would create 45 jobs with average annual pay of nearly $49,000 and annual benefits worth nearly $7,000, according to Orlando's economic-development office. State and local governments have proposed a tax-break-incentive deal worth $135,000 to lure Antech's new operation, according to staff documents.

Orlando City Council candidate Regina Hill hasn't shied away from her history of 21 arrests, but state records show she resumed voting before her civil rights were restored following a cocaine conviction. Filing false voter-registration information is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, but Hill is unlikely to face charges because Florida's three-year statute of limitations has run out. Hill, 48, said Friday that she was unaware of the apparent violation until notified by the Orlando Sentinel.

Orlando City Council member Glenda Hood announced Thursday that she will seek a third term. She listed transportation, the environment and helping the poor as her priorities.''I have the vision and leadership capability to take Orlando into the future,'' said Hood, 40, who owns a public relations firm.She has represented District 1 since 1982 and so far is unopposed in her bid for the post, which pays $13,119 a year. The election is Sept. 4.District 1 encompasses much of southeast Orlando and includes part of downtown, as well as older, upper-income neighborhoods such as Lake Cherokee and Delaney Park and middle-income areas such as Lake Como and Dover Shores.

Central Park in New York. The Mall in Washington, D.C., Piedmont Park in Atlanta.What do these parks, as well as countless other parks in urban centers across the United States, have in common? In-line skaters. That's right, ''bladers.''Somehow, in-line skaters, pedesterians, baby carriages and joggers manage to coexist peacefully in parks throughout the country, sharing sidewalks and bike paths with little difficulty.In these cities, officials have not declared parks off-limits to skating enthusiasts, recognizing that it's good policy to allow them their method of fitness and fun.After purchasing a pair of in-line skates while on a trip to New York City, I briefly enjoyed the ''skating culture'' that has developed there.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is looking into whether Orlando City Council candidate Juan Lynum actually lives in the west Orlando district he wants to represent. Even as voters were going to the polls Tuesday, the FDLE was collecting records at City Hall about Lynum's residency status. "They indicated they were investigating whether there was fraud in his representations of his residency," said City Clerk Alana Brenner. Lynum, meanwhile, accused opponent Regina Hill of absentee-ballot fraud and a campaign-finance violation, which Orange County prosecutors are reviewing.

Voters in three Central Florida cities will go to the polls Tuesday to determine who will be the mayor of Apopka, who will succeed Daisy Lynum on the Orlando City Council and who will take the place of Longwood City Commissioner H.G. "Butch" Bundy, who is awaiting trial on DUI and other charges. Also being contested is a City Council seat in Apopka. Polls in all races will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. APOPKA Voters in Orange County's second largest city, witnesses to the most expensive campaign in the city's history, will pick a mayor and a city commissioner.